Richard Lejonhjerta i historien och poesin: Akademisk afhandling

Estlander, Carl Gustaf, 1834-1910Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.8
Word count
210K words
Chapters
22

Tags

Foreign Language Books World HistoryHistorical Figures Historical RecoveryBardic NarrativeAcademic MonographTextual Analysis19th CenturyEpic TraditionSwedish Literature

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Richard Lejonhjerta i historien och poesin: Akademisk afhandling by EstlanderAuthor: Estlander, Carl Gustaf, 1834-1910,Language: Swedish, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 26, 2018

Editor's review

This is an academic dissertation in Swedish examining how the historical figure Richard the Lionheart (Richard Lejonhjerta, i.e. Richard I) was portrayed in historical records and in the poetic tradition. Its author, Carl Gustaf Estlander (1834–1910), was a Finnish-Swedish scholar of literature and cultural history, and Project Gutenberg has produced this public-domain ebook. Its value lies not in offering a general biography but in showing how nineteenth-century humanistic scholarship compared source criticism with literary narrative: the same figure wears one face in chronicles and another in epics and ballads. Readers can clearly see the tension between historical truth and poetic truth, and get a sense of the argumentative method and prose style of early scholarship. For those studying Nordic philology, the reception history of medieval subjects or historiography, it is a short but exemplary piece of material; general readers who simply want Richard's life will find it specialized and dated. Read it as a scholarly text to be studied closely, not as an introduction.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the chapter headings and conclusion first to grasp how the author separates source material from poetic material
  2. Keep a Swedish dictionary or a parallel translation at hand and check key names and places as you go
  3. Extract the quoted poetic passages and set them beside the historical account to compare portrayals
  4. After finishing, summarize the author's line of argument on one page to test whether you have grasped the core thesis

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
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  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
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  15. 15
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FAQ

Is this book written in English? No. According to Project Gutenberg, the book is in Swedish; it is a Swedish-language academic dissertation, and English appears only in the platform's metadata.
Is it suitable for learning about the life of Richard the Lionheart? Not really. Its focus is not recounting his life but examining how the figure differs between historical writing and the poetic tradition; it is scholarly discussion rather than biographical narrative.
Why was this book included in an ebook project? It has entered the public domain, and Project Gutenberg digitized it for free access; the record shows a release date of December 26, 2018.
What background is needed to read this dissertation? You need to be able to read Swedish academic prose and have a basic grasp of the relationship between medieval sources and poetry; otherwise following the argument will be difficult.

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About the author

Estlander, Carl Gustaf, 1834-1910 Author

Carl Gustaf Estlander (1834-1910) is an author about whom little is publicly known; his nationality, education and official positions remain unclear. Two of his works are held in the collection, both specialist studies written in the form of an academic dissertation (Swedish "Akademisk afhandling"): one examines Richard the Lionheart in history and poetry (Richard Lejonhjerta i historien och poesin), and the other discusses the folk songs about Robin Hood (Folksångerna om Robin Hood). His subjects thus focus on how historical figures and folk literature develop between historical fact and literary tradition, suggesting an interest in comparative literature and reception history. Both works follow the dissertation format, reflecting careful academic training and skill in handling sources. Given the limited public information, his biography and scholarly influence remain to be further researched, and these works are the main basis for understanding his research orientation.